Few Thoughts After Owning for 4 years...
 

Hi all, we bought a 2014 rx350 in dec 2013.. so the 4th year mark is coming up in a few months..so is the 4 yr warranty. Just want to express a few thoughts i had on this car after owning for almost 4 years.. I want to give some insights and experience to people potentially looking for the preowned market, as well as to see if any of my experience differs from other members.

Car is underpowered. This is how i feel personally..despite having 270 HP on paper, it feels like car accelerate pretty slow. Maybe its the 6 AT transmission. Especially when i try to merge into another lane and there is an upcoming car from the other lane..I dont have any confidence merging..its just dangerous as the RX does not get up to speed quick enough, often leading to the other car horning at me.. car does feel pretty heavy to drive..

Car is reliable.The rx350 is definitely a reliable car.. aside from regular service interval, only had a rear brake clicking sound when reversing 2 yrs ago and they replaced the rear rotors which solved the problem. I have a 2011 bmw 535i, its night and day difference with the lexus.. always having problems.

Gas mileage.. i do about mostly city driving.. in the city driving, i get no where lexus advertised of 18mpg city. I personally get about 15 Mpg in the city. Highway its alot better, i get 26-28 mpg as advertised. This on regular gas and i dont drive agresive at all.

Comfortable. The rx is definitely one of the most comfortable SUVs. I have a pretty bad back. I had a 09 caddy cts and a 2011 bmw 5 series, both cars would cause back pain for me after maybe an hour of driving.. the Lexus is way better, i can easily last 2-3 hours without back pain.. The rear seats are nice too, very comfortable.

Engine noise. I think the rx350 or these lexus engine have louder engine noise when you press the pedal to accelerate.

Sports mode. i have tried sports mode a few times, but honesty it doesnt seem to do much. Its kinda strange as whenever i switch it to sport, it would be engaged to the 4th gear by default. it says 4 on the info display. Any idea why this?


Overall, i just think this generation of rx lacked in power and driving dynamics..but luxury and comfort wise, its great. I am currently debating to whether trading the rx350 along with my bmw 5 series together for a 7 seaters, or just keep both for now.. the new xc90 does look amazing..

Or wait for the 3 row RX coming out...

You might want to consider the 450h as a replacement option. Our '10 RXh will certainly get up and JUMP when I tromp the pedal. I've even had it bark the front tires on a hard launch into traffic. It doesn't necessarily feel like it will do that because it does have a "heavy" feel to the ride, but when the electric assist motor kicks in along side the gas engine, together they really move the car very quickly! Also, since most of your driving is non-aggressive city driving, you would probably see a huge benefit with the hybrid. I'm not what you would call "light" on the foot, even though my surging starts are rapidly waning as I get older and I just tend to take it much easier now... that said, I average around 25 mpg city which is NO where near the advertised 32 MPG, but is a huge deal better than either your 15 mpg or the same 15 mpg I used to get in the 7800 lb diesel Excursion we drove before getting our 450h. I tend to get about 26 on the highway because I tend to hang out at about 78-81 mph on the interstate.

I agree with this. 450h definitely has more oomph (sport mode). The electric motor/s give you that extra torque right off the line and I can spin all 4 wheels for a second until traction control nanny kicks in.

I think Lexus never even tried to push on the acceleration [felt power]. Reliability, comfort, economy have been the area of focus. With these 3 things being high in importance the torque and hp from the size of the engine has always been set aside.

I wonder where the acceleration be when payload is increased to handle 7 passengers.

Salim

My 2017 RX350 has plenty of power, at least as much as my MB E350 had, this is in standard mode, sports mode is more responsive, but the ECO setting makes it a laggard

I have a strange mix of cars that I've owned or driven, most of the cars I have owned and driven are lightweight and nimble, but not straight line fast. The heavier, cars have been 1990 LS 400, 2001 LS430, Chevy Express Diesel, Jeep Liberty, and now I have the pleasure of owning a 2010 RX 350. I think the acceleration is really solid, and I have never had an issue merging onto the highway, then again, I daily a 106 horsepower Toyota Yaris.

underpowered? are we driving the same vehicle?!

Ditto on the 450h. Give it a try! There's a reason why it's called a 450.:driving:

This one sort of bugs me. The engine drones when you get up to a certain RPM, both 350 and 450h. I have the 450h and I've learned to live with it but I certainly didn't expect this type of noise from a Lexus. My two older Lexus (GS400 and ES330) were quieter all around.

We no longer have our 2013 RX350, but we did really enjoy it.

I didn't find it overpowered for sure, but definitely not underpowered.

Most test results I have found tested it to 60mph in 6.7 to 7.0 seconds. That doesn't seem dangerously slow to me...

Sports Mode
 

Sports mode. i have tried sports mode a few times, but honesty it doesnt seem to do much. Its kinda strange as whenever i switch it to sport, it would be engaged to the 4th gear by default. it says 4 on the info display. Any idea why this?


Overall, i just think this generation of rx lacked in power and driving dynamics..but luxury and comfort wise, its great. I am currently debating to whether trading the rx350 along with my bmw 5 series together for a 7 seaters, or just keep both for now.. the new xc90 does look amazing..[/QUOTE]

Sports Mode does drop the trans into 4th gear. I have a 2015 and agree with most of your points. The RX seems to accelerate best when its already going 40 miles an hour.

The manual "S" shifting mode is simply a shift limiter. When you put it into Shift mode, it limits the transmission to gears 1-4. From there you can "shift" up or down. If you go up to 5 or 6, it will allow the transmission to go up to that gear. If you go down to 3rd, it will limit it to 1-3 gears. It's not a true manual shift mode like you'll find in the IS or GS.

For 450 it is the eCVT which has rpm zoned in. I would chalk that one to nature of the beast. Maybe more sound insulation could have helped but then it adds weight.

Salim

Ha Ha .. so true that the issue is all relative. OP [lawjaii] maybe comparing with 535i.

In my view nothing can be best in all categories. Manufacturers target their clients and choose what to focus on to get the max sales.

Salim